


Switch

by MelyndaR



Category: Boy Meets World, Girl Meets World
Genre: D/s 'verse, Domestic D/s, F/F, F/M, Gen, Multi, accidental Maya Hart character study, just growing up in a D/S verse, they're still kids, what did I even write?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-03
Updated: 2015-11-03
Packaged: 2018-04-29 19:25:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5139713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelyndaR/pseuds/MelyndaR
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maya relies on nobody but herself. Otherwise she runs the risk of getting hurt, right? So what is she supposed to do with these urges she's been getting to let someone else be the strong one for a change? She hides them, of course.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The girls have long decided that they will forever maintain that this is Lucas’s fault. This mess of a triad that they’re a part of didn’t start until Lucas came along, and Lucas is the only hard dom in their group, after all, so the explanation makes sense. Personally, though, Maya has a different opinion... and she could even point to the exact minute when their group started, by her way of thinking.

When you’re eight years old, being either a dom or a sub has less than nothing to do with sex, but that doesn’t mean that the base instincts aren’t there - subs want to be taken care of and protected, and doms want to do that protecting. Even at eight years old, nobody questioned that Maya was a dom.

Well, not openly, anyway... Maya’s mom, Katy was a switch with sub inclinations, and sometimes the way that her daughter behaved when she thought no one was looking - it made her wonder if maybe she had a dom/switch on her hands. But nobody else saw that side of Maya, so nobody else wondered - after all, whenever Maya was around Riley, it was painfully obvious that she viewed herself as the bubbly, innocent girl’s protector, even if Riley’s dom/sub inclination had still been a bit of a question mark back then.

Then came the birthday party. Farkle’s eighth one, to be exact, and Maya could still remember the day like it had happened yesterday. She remembered being at the park on a clear day with maybe a half a dozen other kids - Farkle, Riley, Smackle, and a couple of Farkle’s other nerdy friends - all of whom Maya was sure she was at least a little bit cooler than. Because even if her dad was the one who’d walked out a couple of years ago, surely she had at least a little more control over things than these other kids - subs, all of them - did. Certainly she had more control over her body than, say, gangly Riley or tiny Smackle - and for some reason she’d decided that she had to prove it.

So she’d grabbed the skateboard that she’d ridden to get to the park... but after that everything became a bit of a blur. A blur of the board, a park bench, and moves that - just like Farkle said years later - she wasn’t ready for. The skateboard flew one way, her traitorous body jarred straight down onto the ground, and she cried out when her head hit hard on the corner of the bench as she went down.

Riley and Farkle both instantly came running as horrible, embarrassing tears started to blur her vision.

“She’s bleeding!” Riley screeched.

“Go get my mom!” Farkle directed the brunette, his own voice trembling as he pushed her in the direction of the Minkus’s car.

The two adults at the party had been gone for only a minute getting the cake and presents from their car, and now this had happened...

“‘M fine,” Maya sniffled, trying so hard not to cry as Farkle knelt down beside her.

Smackle and the other two boys were too intimidated by her on a good day to come anywhere near her, so they were very clearly intent on keeping their distance now. But not Farkle. Maya wasn’t sure whether or not she should be grateful or embarrassed by his actions as he ordered softly, “Let me look at your head.”

She should’ve snapped at him for ordering her around - she was the dom here, after all... wasn’t she? - but she was stopped by his gentleness as he brushed her hair away from the spot where her head hurt most, stopped by some new thread in his voice that she hadn’t heard before.

“I think you may need stitches,” he announced thoughtfully, ever the genius even at barely eight years old. He added reassuringly, “But you’ll be okay,” as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and tucked her against him as his parents came running with Riley right behind them.

And in that second before Mrs. Minkus took over the situation, Maya felt something that she had never felt with anyone besides her mom. She felt safe, protected - like there was someone that she could let take care of her instead of it always having to be the other way around. And she realized that she liked that feeling just as much as she liked the way Riley always looked at her with admiration in her eyes.

It soon became common knowledge that was the day that Farkle Minkus had discovered he was a sub/switch - but it was years later before Maya admitted that was also the day she’d realized she was a dom/switch.

Maya coined that day as the one that she’d first decided she wanted - or maybe even needed - both Riley and Farkle in her life, therefore,  in her own mind, it was also the day that the idea of a setup like this first came to her mind, even if had been subconsciously at the time.

 


	2. Chapter 2

For two more years after that, nothing changes. Maya and Riley are very much each other’s domestic dom and sub - again, there’s nothing about sex in this relationship, so it doesn’t matter to either that they’re both hetrosexual girls at an age where they don’t even know what “hetrosexual” means. Farkle floats around them - occasionally with Smackle at his side as the most lovesick arch nemesis of all time - and continues to be all too eager in the moments when they let him into their orbit. Out of Riley, Maya, Farkle, and Smackle, Maya is still the most dominant - she’s never actually told anyone how safe Farkle makes her feel sometimes during those dom moments of his where he protects any of “his girls” - and it works like this. Riley is, unbeknownst to everybody else, the only ordinary sub out of the four. Farkle is very openly a sub/switch, Maya is a closet dom/switch, and Smackle is an asexual sub who still does her very best to stay away from the other two girls - easily accomplished almost always, since she goes to a different school. When Farkle needs a hug, he knows he can ask Maya for it, and she’ll give him what he wants with only a small eyeroll... and when Maya’s the one who needs the hug, she’ll corner Farkle in private and steal one, disappearing before he can ever question her motives.

Some days, that’s enough for her. Most days it isn’t. In a social circle comprised almost entirely of subs of some sort, with a sub/switch for a mother, and Riley’s mom being the only dom she really trusts, Maya learns to bury her sub side deep and make sure it stays there.

Then, the December she’s ten years old, the Matthews invite her to their family Christmas, and she meets Joshua Matthews. He’s three years older, way too cute to be a blood relative of Cory Matthews’, and the most mellow dom she’s ever met. For someone who’s learned the hard way not to get her hopes up, Maya suddenly wonders if she just might have a reason to believe in love at first sight.

But once again, that’s something that doesn’t immediately pan out for her. It can’t - the age gap between them is a big deal right now, Riley still needs Maya more than anyone else on the planet, and so far as the world knows, even at ten years old, Maya Hart is a dom through and through.

So she goes home, buries the submissive parts of herself under yet another layer of self-preservation, and goes about her life as if nothing ever happened.

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

Maya’s twelve when Sarah Carpenter catches her having a near meltdown in the girl’s bathroom - over a test, of all things. By now, failing a test should not be a big deal in Maya’s book - in fact, most days it isn’t - but she actually tried on this one. She studied - as best as she could by herself, anyway - and she’d thought that she had it.But dumb old Garaboski switched around the wording on the questions, and for someone who really doesn’t understand how to study, that’s apparently as good as a death sentence.

So she failed - again - and now her brain is screaming that word at her like a mantra. Failure. She’s a failure at school, trying to do well on tests that she’ll apparently never understand. She’s a failure as a daughter, because if she wasn’t her father would obviously have had a reason to stick with his family, and her mom wouldn’t spend so much time working instead of being with her kid. Maybe she’s even started to fail as Riley’s dom, because when the pretty sub looked at her with as much disappointment - or worse, pity - in her eyes as she had when she’d seen Maya’s grade, how long would it be until Riley didn’t trust her to care for her in these moments when Maya couldn’t even care for herself?

Failure, failure, failure!

Sarah is instantly concerned when she catches sight of Maya... or, more like when she hears Maya sniffling and sees the bottom half of her where she’s curled up on the floor of the corner stall - in a public school bathroom, because she couldn’t think of anywhere else to go.

Maya doesn’t notice the other dom’s presence until the stall door shakes as Sarah tries to open it. The blonde freezes, praying that Sarah can’t tell who she’s found and just goes away - it’s not like the girls are friends; they’re barely acquaintances.

But Sarah does not go away, and, even better, she asks, “Maya, are you okay?”

Maya’s had a lot of practice at keeping tears out of her tone, and answers in a normal voice, “Yeah.”

“Then  unlock the door for me.”

“I’m fine,” Maya repeats, but she doesn’t have it in her to be even irritated right now.

Sarah’s voice changes into something that Maya’s instantly kicking herself for being unable to disobey, something that Maya, in fact craves having directed at her right now, though she doesn’t know why. Okay, she knows. She knows she’s switched into sub mode, but she hasn’t done that in almost a year-and-a-half, so surely she can keep Sarah from figuring it out. The girl on the outside of the door demands, firmly but not being unkind about it, “Unlock this door.”

Maya reaches up, obeys the command, and then wraps her arms around her legs with her forehead against her knees, making herself look even smaller than she is, and nothing like the unshakable dom that she so wants - needs - to be seen as. She hears Sarah come in and, to Maya’s surprise, lock the door again behind her, then feels her presence as she crouches down in front of the blonde who knows she’s doing a bad job of hiding her tears.

“Are you okay?” Sarah asks again, and it’s awkward because they don’t really know each other, but Maya knows, she understands full well that Sarah’s merely following the instincts of a good dom in relation to the sub-ish way that Maya’s acting.

And it scares Maya to death. A part of her wants to get up and run, erase from Sarah’s memory that she ever saw her like this. The other part of her just really wants someone to hold her and tell her that she’s okay, that she’s enough, that she’s not a failure. And for the first time in a long time, that sub part of her is fighting really hard to win out.

Still, Maya’s a dom first, and she’s determined to stay that way at all times, so she answers flatly, “Fine.”

Sarah, apparently, isn’t buying Maya’s bull - or going anywhere. Instead she replies steadily, “We’re the only one’s in here right now; you can talk to me, and I won’t tell anyone what you said.”

Maya sees crystal clear what Sarah’s really saying - that she’s guessing at Maya’s secret and giving her a chance to let it out into the open - but that only makes her panic for real. She scrambles to her feet and shoves with all her might at the stall door, only to stumble back into Sarah because the door’s locked.

Before she can even unlock the door, Sarah’s arms are around her, folding her firmly into a hug from behind as she whispers a new mantra into her ear - “It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay” - but Maya’s not hearing her. Instead, she’s still struggling to get away, mentally cursing her diminutive size for making the task harder. Then there’s something else stabbing through the panic - sharp prickles of pain as Sarah gathers a fist of Maya’s hair and tugs a little roughly to get her attention.

“It’s okay,” Sarah says again when she finally has Maya’s focus. “You’re safe. Be still for a second and just catch your breath.”

It’s the first time in Maya’s life that someone has intentionally directed their dom voice towards her during one of her sub moments, and Maya doesn’t know what to do - only somehow she does, because her breathing is doing its best to even itself out almost without her accord.

“There, see, it’s all right,” Sarah purred, cautiously untangling her hand from Maya’s hair while keeping the arm around her torso firm so that the blonde doesn’t flee at the first chance she gets. “You’re okay. It’s safe. Just breathe.”

So Maya does. She closes her eyes, leans her head back onto Sarah’s shoulder, and just breathes, relaxing into the other girl’s touch - and predictably feeling Sarah relax her hold on Maya in turn. And then the moment  her breathing is back to normal, she runs out of the bathroom at breakneck speed, barely hearing Sarah’s distressed cry as she disappears.

She’s seen how Sarah is with her own sub, Darby, who is easily one of the most submissive girl Maya’s ever met. Anyone else would find it perhaps too easy to crush Darby, but for all of the occasional snark that Maya’s heard from Sarah, she knows the dark-haired girl is a good dom, and kind, even if she does seem to knock heads with other doms from time to time. Maya could’ve told her the truth, and her secret would’ve been safe with Sarah, but she didn’t... and she’s startled to find that she almost regrets that.

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

Maya manages to quite successfully ignore Sarah for the rest of the school year, pretending she doesn’t see the way the girl frequently glances at her with a concerned expression and dodging her in the halls on the rare occasion that Sarah manages to catch her alone. She knows there’s nothing more on Sarah’s mind than the concern of a sisterly dom... like Maya cares for Riley - and it’s that the thought that makes her push the other girl away even harder. She doesn’t want to be weak in anyone’s eyes - life has taught her that she can’t afford to be - and most of the time she really is okay, anyway. She’s a dom/switch, not a sub playing pretend.

But in some ways that makes the few sub moments she allows herself even harder to work through, because by the time she finally does work herself so far down that she’s in a sub’s headspace, it makes not having a dom there so much harder. She’s okay, though. She is. She’s tough - thanks to both nature and nurture - but she has so many insecurities that she rarely lets people see, and sometimes those need soothed. But she doesn’t let people know that she has them, therefore no one can help her with them.

No, that’s not right either. People know that she’s a screwed up little kid, but they also think she’s a complete dom, which comes with an ingrained “I can take care of myself and my sub, thank you very much,” mindset that Maya has - most of the time. It’s that other one percent of the time that’s killing her slowly, and she doesn’t know what to do about it. Then again, that’s not right, either. She knows that she needs to come out as a switch - her own mom is a sub/switch; it shouldn’t be so hard for her to imagine having “that” conversation with her, but it is. And the idea of telling Riley... of letting that news spread throughout the school... she just can’t handle the thought of opening herself up to potentially being taken advantage of because of the “flip side” of her nature that was the very definition of being a switch.

And it’s while she’s in the middle of this quiet storm that she and Riley notice the Subway Boy.

In one way, Maya’s the one to literally get Riley to fall for him, but in the other, more important, way, Riley is off and in love at first sight all on her own. That’s a dangerous thing for a sub to do, Maya thinks, because what if they were entrusting the ins and outs of their lives to a serial killer or something, but watching Riley smile at the boy whose lap she’s sitting on, she already knows that she won’t remind the brunette of that. In a way, she even understands it - after all, it was the sub side of her that had fallen for Joshua Matthews when she was ten years old.

It’s some kind of stroke of the good luck that seems to permeate Riley’s life that the Subway Boy, Lucas, shows up at their school as a new student. Of course he does.

Maya’s not sure what to think of it all - Lucas is the new light of Riley’s life, but there’s something off about the story that he’s telling people,  He’s swearing up and down that he would classify himself as possibly the world’s most laid-back dom, but Maya knows better; she’s seen better. So far as laid-back doms go, she’s pretty sure that Joshua Matthews is better, and she’s only met the older boy once in her life. But Riley really does like Lucas, and Maya gets the feeling that Riley isn’t going to call herself Maya’s sub for much longer, choosing to be with Lucas instead - which is fine with Maya; it’s not like she’s losing Riley or anything... is it? But it’s the thought of sending Riley into an uncertain relationship where she could be hurt that makes Maya want to pin the boy against a locker, screw height differences, and demand to know what his deal is. It’s not that she dislikes Lucas; it’s that she wants to get under his skin and get the full story before she just hands her girl over to him, and he’s very blatantly told her that he’s not going to let her do that.

And something about that makes her just a little scared for Riley. But what scares her even more is the way that Lucas starts to look at her sometimes, with that questioning glance that Farkle and her mom shoot her every once in awhile. Like he’s figured out way more than she’s willing to let on. But he never says whatever’s on his mind, so she’s willing to play it safe and pretend like she doesn’t see his glances - doesn’t see that somehow he’s already figured out that she’s a switch.

Then there’s Sarah, who’s now decided to take up residence in the seat right beside Maya in class which isn't necessary, but what’s she supposed to do about anything? What’s she ever been able to do about her own life?! She can’t even control her own flip-flopping orientation!

Somehow, even in the middle of all of that, she’s really not sure if life has ever been better - because Riley has become so happy with Lucas around - or worse.

Until life hits a bump in the road that definitely feels like “worse.”

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

Christmas at the Matthews’s brings with it a blow that she just isn’t ready for - seeing Joshua Matthews for the first time in nearly four years. It’s so much harder for her to keep her sub side in  check with him, and she doesn’t like it, almost can’t handle it.

As horrible as it sounds, Maya’s grateful that Riley’s issue with her Uncle Shawn comes to her attention. Seeing Riley as uncertain as she becomes puts Maya squarely back in overprotective dom mode, and she’s glad. Together, the girls and Shawn get things sorted out, and seeing Riley’s smile at the end of the night - feeling an unexpected surge of something like... friendliness towards Shawn Hunter - nearly makes her forget Josh is nearby.

But just nearly.

And things don’t get any better from there for awhile, because she’s a stupid idiot who invites Josh to go on the weekend away with them - almost as a joke, but he accepts - and then he’s back at the Matthews’ place for family game night, and  there’s nothing to distract her this time. No one can miss how far gone she is for Josh that time, and when she thinks back on it, she still doesn’t know what to do about... anything, which isn’t helping her stress level.

Then Shawn shows up on her birthday, which she thinks is a definite plus, until Riley gets it in her head that she wants the man to be Maya’s father - how the heck that’s supposed to work, Maya’s afraid to consider - and there’s no deterring a truly stubborn Riley.

Not unless Maya wants to pull some serious dom moves that she’s supposedly even too young to know are things to begin with... and even then, she can’t imagine doing that to Riley. They’re young enough that crime and punishment, so to speak, is still Topanga’s department, and Maya’s responsibilities toward Riley look much more like positive reinforcement and playing bodyguard before things go wrong.

In the end, all of these things culminate with Maya tied up on the bay window trying not to think about the knowing look in Lucas’s eye as he did his little cowboy trick - and she’s definitely not thinking about the way that she’s tempted to relax into this situation. Just because she has no choice but to deal with being restrained doesn’t mean she has no choice but to be okay with it.

She spends the entire time trying so hard not to think about a few things that she ends up thinking about everything, and she’s pretty sure that she’s losing her mind by the time someone finally rejoins her in the bay window. It’s surprisingly hard work for her to still look angry about being tied up, and she’s ridiculously glad to realize that Riley’s the only one who’s coming in.

“Hi, peaches,” Riley says timidly, nibbling on her lip as she eyes Maya, carefully scanning the way the blonde’s still trapped by the ropes.

“Aren’t you going to untie me?” Maya asks a little impatiently. She can’t quite manage a convincing enough tone, and - Oh, no, it’s Riley, she’s going to notice that!

“No,” Riley answers softly, but Maya’s eyes still blow wide because What is happening? “Not yet.”

It’s a sudden act of God that Maya manages to keep her tone perfectly level as she asks in a patient tone, “Why not?”

“Because I have a question and I need to know that you’re going to answer me honestly, so if keeping you tied up for a little longer is the only way I know I’ll get that honesty...” Riley trails off with a shrug.

Maya doesn’t know what to feel, but there’s a definite stab of guilt in there somewhere as she answers, “I would never lie to you, honey.”

Riley smiles sadly, asking in a near-whisper, “Then why haven’t you already come out and told me that you’re a switch?”

Maya’s mouth goes instantly dry and she thinks that maybe she feels a little lightheaded, because of all the people in her life that she’s imagined confronting her about this, Riley somehow landed near the back of the list. Her mother, Farkle, Lucas, Topanga, Josh even, came far before the waiting sub beside her, and Maya doesn’t know what to do now. For once she has no idea how to handle Riley, and she doesn’t like it. So she keeps her mouth shut.

Riley waits for another full minute before she pulls her mouth up into a sad smile, obviously hurt, and murmurs, “Okay then.”

And somehow Maya’s shocked when Riley crawls right back out the window and leaves her alone again. But nothing could’ve prepared her for Riley returning a couple minutes later - with Lucas in tow. The duo climbs through the window onto Riley’s bay window and Maya stubbornly clamps her mouth shut. No way is she talking about this with another dom in the room, and certainly one that she hasn’t quite figured out, like Lucas.

“What do you think I am?” the blond boy asks levelly, and the question makes no sense, so Maya doesn’t answer it. He continues undeterred when he realizes she’s not going to reply, saying, “Because I know you’ve figured out that something’s different about me. Doms just have that extra edge of protectiveness when it comes to their subs, and when you saw me and Riley together... you caught onto something that nobody else has.” He hesitates then, looking at his hands before meeting her eyes again. “In my old school, I got into trouble for... taking the protection of my old sub a little too far. When I moved here, I decided that I had to tone down my dom instincts... and I’ve tried to - tried to come off as an everyday dom. But I’m not. That difference you saw in me, Maya, is that I’m a hard dom - my instinct is to try and...  dom even other doms. That got me into trouble, so I’ve learned to dial it down. Having a sub like Riley around has really helped me focus that energy... but it doesn’t change who I am. So...” he swallows, talking slowly as he gets to the point. “Riley and I have talked about it, and we think that you and I could be beneficial to one another.”

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

“How?” Maya snorts, trying not to show how this conversation - Lucas’s revelation and the offer that she suspects just might be coming - is slowly rattling her to her core.

“What if...” Lucas asks slowly. “You and I both continue to be Riley’s doms for the time being... but... you agree to let me be your dom too?” He had spoken slowly so far, but towards the end, he spouts all in one breath before she can try to hurt anybody, “But only when you feel that you need it, just to see if that’s really what you want. If not we can stop at any time, but the option’s there if you want to take it. No pressure.”

Maya feels a sadistic streak of pleasure knowing that she’s making him nervous even as he suggests this, and it makes her feel oddly safe. She could sub for him, she realizes, because he, at least, sees her as an equal, even if he does know now that she’s a switch.

Yet she doesn’t give an answer to the proposition itself for a second, asking instead, “How on earth did you two come up with this idea?”

Here Riley and Lucas look at each other, a debate flying between the two of them as to who gets to answer that question. Maya expects Riley to quell and try to rescue Lucas by answering herself. Instead, Maya starts when Lucas lays his hand atop hers and replies.

“My mom is a dom switch. My dad is... one of the most passive doms you will ever meet in your life - which is the type of person I could honestly see you ending up with.”

Maya doesn’t say that she’s thought that herself when it comes to Josh’s laid-back demeanor.

Riley picks up where Lucas left off, taking Maya’s other hand underneath the ropes that are still keeping the blonde bound. “Their names are Jack and Rachel, but you already knew that, I bet. What I don’t think you’ve realized is that while they were in college, they lived in the same apartment as my Uncle Eric. He’s the opposite of a hard dom; he’s a hard sub. He’ll let even subs dom him. And while they were in college, they... did a little experiment  that ended up lasting for about two years.”

“The three of them dated each other,” Maya surmises.

“Something like that, yeah,” Lucas nods. “Their relationships with Eric were pretty platonic, but my parents ended up getting together. See, my mom had just come off of a bad relationship with a dom. She thought she had to choose whether to be a dom or a sub, and in order to be with her former boyfriend, she had chosen to be a sub all the time. So when she broke up with him only to move in with two more guys... she freaked out a little bit. Got scared. She didn’t want to like either of them... but in the end, she liked both of them. So the three of them made an agreement like the one Riley and I are proposing, and it helped her understand what she really was, what she really needed from the people she chose to be with - the person, I guess, my dad. Eric and my dad helped her heal and get over her fear of being taken advantage of by giving her the best of both worlds, so to speak, and that’s what - that’s all - Riley and I want to do for you.”

Maya looks between them both, considering the proposition seriously for a long moment before she asks quietly, “What  happens when I decide what I want. Who let’s go of the other two?”

Maya was expecting anything from RIley but the Cheshire cat grin that she gets. “I’m glad you asked.”

Lucas knocks on the window, and Maya watches in hardly-concealed horror as the window’s opened from the outside and Josh Matthews crawls in to join them in sitting in the bay window. “That’s where I come in.”

“What?” Maya croaks, and this is all too much. She’s done playing it cool and putting up walls. She just wants to know what’s going on.

“I like you, Maya,” Josh says honestly, the sincerity in his eyes taking Maya’s breath away. “But I mean it when I say that I’m too old for you right now. So... if you choose to go along with what these two are offering you, and you find that you are a switch, I’d like to make a date in advance for you and I to talk...” he winces. “But it’d have to be in a few years. Four years from today exactly, if I have my way. What do you say to all of this.”

I say you’re crazy, she thinks, but the words can’t seem to find their way out of her mouth. It is a crazy scheme, she knows, and there’s a fair chance that somebody’s going to get hurt along the way, but she can’t seem to find the words to express what she’s thinking. Because, honestly? She likes the idea. She wants to try it.

Maybe she ends up losing Riley - but wasn’t that going to happen anyway soon enough? This way Maya can hold onto her a little longer - or hurting Lucas, or... or breaking Josh’s heart - who would’ve thought she had that power? - but she wants to try it.

So she smiles, even if it is only a soft, uncertain expression right now, and nods, agreeing simply, “Okay.” She looks at Riley and Lucas. “You’re both mine now... and I’m yours.” Her grin becomes wider as she turns back to Josh and raises her eyebrows, adding, “At least until I’m old enough to become Mrs. Joshua Matthews.”

She hears Riley’s muttered, “Oh, boy,” behind her, and something that sounds like a poorly-concealed snort from Lucas, and Josh is giving her the same dopey smile that she knows she’s given him in the past, and Maya decides then and there that she loves them all in her own way. It’s a crazy solution, and she knows it, but it also feels like the perfect one, and she’s honestly just so glad to have the truth finally out there.

She’s smiling freely as she asks again, “Can somebody untie me _now_?”

 

 


End file.
